Quote:
Originally Posted by ls7plus
Dave, the gendarmes that guard the sanctity of track and field, as well as Olympic records do that all the time--remember Ben Johnson? If major league baseball doesn't do it, we can each do it within the domain of public opinion. If I remember correctly, the original question was who do we "consider" to be the "rightful" HR king. There's a reason why even the best Bonds cards are going down in value, while the Aaron rookie seems to be on a steady, although not spectacular climb. I personally don't know even a single baseball fan that believes any of Bonds' totals are entitled to any significant degree of respect in comparison to non-juicers.
All the best,
Larry
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The big difference being that track and field and most other sports follow the Olympic rules-currently via WADA, and PEDs of various types have been specifically forbidden since the 60's. Ben Johnson tested positive at the Olympics and his medal was rescinded as soon as possible - 3 days- which included lab time. He later confessed to using banned PEDs in earlier events and was stripped of his medals and records for those events.
McGwire took a substance that would have been banned under the rules of nearly every other sport. But baseball had no ban or testing program in place.
Sosa and Bonds probably took something banned, but as there was no firm policy till 2006 the didn't break the rules of baseball.
So the question to me is a hard one. McGwire and Bonds should count because they hit the most under the existing rules. Maris had an incredible season, and should probably be considered the "clean" season champ. (maybe- I don't know if he took anything for the stress, some of those medications are low level PEDs, currently banned, but not in 61- amphetamines were also common in athletics at the time)
Ruth was someone special and would be in any era. Maybe he hit against spotty competition, but so did eveyone else and very few of them even came close. He also had no modern training whatsoever. No weights, no off season gym, no dieticians, no computerized data on pitchers tendencies.....Hard to imagine what he could have done with even a bit of that. And his ab/hr was by far the best until the steroid era.
I'll go with Ruth, with a nod to Josh Gibson, who I think could have had a solid shot at the record had he been in the majors.
Also Joe Bauman, who hasn't had a mention yet.
Steve B